Govt to give facelift to GGH, boost infra in PHCs

Anantapur-Puttaparthi : A section of Rural Primary Health Centers (PHCs) is in a precarious state in the undivided district of Anantapur with 63 PHCs and the State government needs to take a fresh look at boosting medical infrastructure and doctors’ availability from morning to evening every day. Medicines availability in every PHC and clinical staff should be ensured.

Irregular attendance of medical officers, inadequate doctors and clinical staff in PHCs are driving common people to government general hospital, who also opine that GGH will provide quality treatment. But, people should be educated to visit their nearest PHC for small ailments, so that pressure on the headquarters hospitals could be brought down.

Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav told The Hans India that the headquarters government hospitals will be given face lift in every district. Clinical infrastructure would be given a boost besides filling up vacancies in PHCs. Depending on the financial position, GGHs will be developed on corporate lines giving more thrust to recruitment of medical staff and improving medical infrastructure.

He said that headquarters hospital will be constructed in Puttaparthi, adding that Sri Sathya Sai district has no GGH after the united Anantapur district was divided. Hence, hundreds of patients from Sathya Sai district are making a beeline to Anantapur.

Nearly 50,000 people are dependent on Raptadu PHC. PHC sub-centers are functioning in Gondireddipalle, Bukkacherla, Gandlaparti, Bandameedapalle, Palacherla and Marur villages. Neither sub-centers nor PHC is adequately equipped. Much of medical equipment supplied long ago is rusting in sub-centers, which resulted in patients in mandals overlooking PHC and sub-centers and over-burdening the GGH.

People’s organisations and patients, particularly women, are demanding the government to overhaul the overall medical system and boost medical facilities and make every PHC vibrant so that patients need not go to headquarter government general hospital for even minor ailments.

The GGH is over-burdened with patients with minor ailments, which could be easily treated at PHCs and regional hospitals in the district. PHCs should be manned by general practitioners, who will be able to address general ailments that does not require the attention of specialised doctors. The general practitioners should take an integrated view of the patient’s complaints and should be able to treat general ailments instead of straight away sending them to a specialist.

In the absence of a policy to strengthen PHCs, the GGH is overburdened with patients from far and wide defeating the very concept of 3-tier medical system of PHC, regional hospital and GGH under which patients are segregated for addressing their ailments at various levels. Raptadu mandal with 27 villages is an example of poor amenities in the PHCs.